Ojas Chawla is building a new future in Auckland’s infrastructure.

The Bachelor of Construction (Quantity Surveying) graduate has just started a rewarding role as a Junior Quantity Surveyor in the CBD. This entails managing finances for construction projects such as buildings and roads and leaving his mark on the ever-changing city landscape. “This has been an amazing opportunity as there is so much to learn,” he says. “Since it’s infrastructure, my input in the projects is here to stay for a long time and that’s something I can be really proud of one day. I want to say I was the Quantity Surveyor on Xyz projects such as a section of the motorway, a bridge, or railways.”

Ojas welcomes the many different challenges posed by overseeing infrastructure projects. He aims to be a senior quantity surveyor one day while running a couple of businesses in the construction and automobile industries. “I have been into cars since I was a toddler and have almost completed my first project car.”

His learning journey started by enrolling in a Bachelor of Business majoring in finance and business information systems. This was sparked by a long-term goal to start his own business. “After getting my diploma, I realised it wasn’t my cup of tea and researched other courses I could do. With the boom in the construction industry and being good with numbers and management skills, the Bachelor of Construction (Quantity Surveying) programme at Future Skills Academy really intrigued me and I enrolled. There is so much to learn and gain from as well as having the liberty to switch careers down the line, such as becoming a project manager or contract administration. It just felt right.”

The lecturers at Future Skills Academy’s Auckland campus were always there to help and had many ways to impart knowledge to make it easier for students to understand, he says. “This coupled with the engaging course layout with all the fun class activities that related to the course made it very exciting to say at the very least.”

The programme developed the skills he needed and Future Skills Academy helped him secure a part-time internship at a quantity surveying consultancy firm. After his internship, Ojas landed a role with an international construction consultancy firm where he assisted in the procurement process for Microsoft’s Data Centre project in the Asia Pacific region. “I was working full time as well as studying full time until December 2021 when I finally graduated with a degree.”